exploring our nation's past every weekend on c-span3. >> the c-span cities tour travels the country exploring the american story. since 2011, we have been to more than 200 communities across the nation. like many americans, are staff is staying close to home due to the virus. next, a look at one of our cities tour visits. >> texas a&m came into existence at the same time. a lot of the things that go on here, although the big traditions here at texas a&m started with the corps cadets. howdy and welcome to texas a&m university and the corps cadets. i am a member of the class of 1978 and i would like to welcome sanders corps center. it is designed to give visitors

an understanding of what the corps is all about. it explains its history and some of the traditions that we have. texas a&m was actually opened on october 4, 1876, but unfortunately, they didn't have the student population that day to actually start classes. so on october 6, 1876, two days later, it actually opened its doors to 40 students. from that point to today, where we are not only the largest university in the state of texas, but we started the year as the largest university in the united states, we have approximately 60,000 students here on campus of which 2300 of those were members of the corps of cadets. from 1876 for the next 24 years, to struggle to maintain the university here in college station and on the br azos.

it wasn't until a former governor of the state of texas came here in 1890 that the university took off. at that point, his reputation allowed the mothers and fathers of the state of texas to want to actually send their sons here to the university. because it was established under the morrill act of 1862, a&m was an all male military institution. a land-grant college. the first thing it did was it provided public lands to the state in order to fund higher education. part of the act required that universities provide not only for the arts and sciences but that most universities at the time were teaching, but to focus on the agricultural and mechanical engineering portions of education and in addition to that, it required the universities to provide training in tactics military tactics. became what itm was back in 1876, a land-grant

college that provided the corps of cadets here, to provide agricultural mechanical education along with military tactics. finally in 1964, a&m became a coed university. women were allowed to come here to texas a&m. in 1955, the corps of cadets became an option. you were no longer required to be a member of the corps. in 1974, the first women joined the corps of cadets and it flourished ever since. today's population of about 22% of all corps are female. we have 20% come from out of state. we have a long tradition of attracting young men and women to come here for want to serve their country either in the public or private sector. >> when i was thinking about where i wanted to go to college, i was originally thinking about north carolina state. raleigh. but my older sister went here and she said that i have to come down and check out the culture of a&m and the environment.

so i followed her down here. she took me to an a&m football game, and i understood what she meant about a&m being a family. i went to a smaller high school where everyone was focused on personal development, making good grades, getting into whatever college they wanted to go to. so it was very strange for me to understand how a university could be a family. but then coming here and seeing the traditions at a&m exemplifies, whether it be man,r tops or the 12th those traditions reflect the core values here which is selfless service and that drew me here and resonated with me and how i can develop myself and serve my community and once i leave a&m in a global aspect. i am always looking for a challenge. i thought about trying to go for an athletic team, but then i saw that the corps offered a different set of challenges, much more mental. i spent a night with the corps, which is a good opportunity to understand what you're getting into.lf

i knew that i didn't want to commission into the military, but i realized that the opportunity that the corps presented for developing yourself and reaching your full potential. >> what i would like to do is spend a few minutes talking to and what agee muster that means for the students here at a&m. it was originally called san jacinto day in the early 20th century. san jacinto day, april 21, is the day that texas made its independence back in 1836. what they used to do with the cadets, they would go to san jacinto and reenact battles and get them off campus for some of that military training that i talked about a little earlier. but in 1942 at the start of world war ii, is where aggie gained its significance. first and foremost, in may of 1942 they were the defendants in that the defenders

on the philippine islands. general moore was a member of the class of 1908. responsible for the defense of corregidor. before the island fell, one of his officers who was also an aggie, he had him do a muster roll of those aggies that were there on the island of corregidor, and that is what they did. he sent back so people would know that they were still alive and at least safe on the island. rollly after the muster was forwarded here to the united states, the island fell and they became prisoners of war to the japanese. in 1946, after the island had been again repatriated and won back over, the aggies held their first muster there at the entrance to the tunnel. and you can see that right here, muster. corregidor the individuals in that photo, you will notice, are all military for the most part. they are aggies who have come

back to the island to rededicate themselves and to answer here for their comrades who were lost in the war. another significant piece, and for me personally, having had the opportunity to go to the island and take some cadets there on one of our international excursions, to have been able to go into the tunnels and see exactly how their headquarters was set up. and the photo on the top left-hand corner of the display shows the headquarters tunnel. well you have got the individual standing there, if you went there today, it would look exactly like that, without the individual sitting there. they are almost ghostlike in my mind. they represent those aggies that we lost not only during the war but those that we have lost through service throughout. since then, aggie musters are held every year on april 21 through out the world. the biggest muster is held here

at college station, texas, a student-run event. in 1946, we had general dwight eisenhower, he was our muster speaker. he did the muster here in 1946. . >> the tradition is such a broad word, but what we found here at a&m is that true traditions will point you back to your core values. some of the biggest traditions have started as corps traditions and have evolved and developed as the university has grown around the corps. one of those includes the 12th man. in 1922, a former football athlete during the postseason , he transitioned into basketball. during the first half of the game, they realized they had so many injuries that they didn't know if they would be able to fill the full team. so they brought him out of the stands in order to satisfy the that requirement in case he had to go and play. he didn't actually go in and

play, but it was the idea that, i am going to be ready to serve my community, serve my team and my school in whatever capacity they need. that is where you get the 12th man. what we found is that the 12th man spreads out not just in athletics and being able to participate in sport, but all across the community. it is about selfless service. how can you be of service to someone else. my first week here, i had no idea where my classes were. a girl took the time out of her day, i asked where one building was, and she took me all the way across campus, didn't ask me to look at the map or pointed me in the direction, she actually escorted me. that is how you see the 12th man, that selfless service, how can i help you, exemplified in a the day-to-day aspect. another tradition is silver taps. if you know muster, it is once a month, on the first tuesday of every month. we honor the aggies who have passed away that month. plaza andin academic the volunteer company has a firing squad and they perform a

21-gun salute to them. it is a great way of paying respect to fall in aggies -- fallen aggies. coming here is the best of both theds because you do have cadet aspect that you would get at a military college, but then you also get to see the other side. you get both worlds. it does mean that sometimes it is going to be harder because you see that you don't have to morning, ify every you are just a general population student here at a&m, but that is more rewarding when you go through it. the opportunity to develop yourself as a leader is not present in any other organization here on campus quite like the corps. and other watch these programs on the history of communities across the country at c-span.org cit -- city cities

>> on september 2nd, 1945, government and military officials from japan signed surrendered documents in peace ceremony aboard the uss missouri in tokyo bay. formally bringing world war ii to a close. japanese emperor had announced japan's surrender earlier in 1945. to mark the 75th anniversary the friends of the world war ii memorial hosted a online commemorative program including